Tiny wings gave the F-104 an edge in acceleration and climb. It was the first aircraft to reach 100,000 feet, the first to cruise at Mach 2, the first to hold speed and altitude records simultaneously. Few fighters have ever surpassed it. Pilots called it the “Zipper.” NASA used Starfighters as chase planes and to provide astronauts with high-altitude maneuvers...
The primary mission of the F-102 was to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft. It was the world’s first supersonic, all-weather...
For more than half a century, if aerial combat was happening anywhere in the world, the chance that MiG-21s were...
The Soviet Union developed the MiG-15 following World War II and the fighter entered service in 1949. In 1950, the...
The F-86 was the U. S. Air Force’s first swept-wing jet fighter. Making its initial flight in October 1947, the...
